E-Reader-Info

Sony sold over 500,000 T1 (Reader Wi-Fi) e-readers in Europe, quite pleased

ereader — Sun, 27 May 2012 07:22:12 +0000

There are reports that Sony sold over 500,000 Reader Wi-Fi (or T1) devices in Europe since introducing it in September 2011. Sony are quite pleased with that number. According to some estimates the Kindle sales in Europe are not much higher.

People use e-readers to hide what they are reading...

ereader — Sun, 27 May 2012 06:53:44 +0000

Here's an interesting advantage of using a digital e-reader: you can read books you are are ashamed of... In a recent UK study it was found that 58% of e-reader owners use the e-reader to hide what they're reading. About one third of the users read erotic novels on their e-reader. People are also reading children titles (such as Harry Potter) - and the e-reader helps them do that in secret...

Bridgestone withdraws from the e-paper business

ereader — Tue, 15 May 2012 14:45:55 +0000

Bridgestone announced that they are withdrawing from the e-paper business. Bridgestone had developed a color e-paper technology called Aerobee. They developed it in collaboration with Delta Electronics who had plans to start producing e-paper panels and e-readers (but not in the near future). It's not clear what Delta's future plans will be.

This is sad news for the e-paper market, which is facing tough times as e-readers shipments drop (mostly because tablets are proving to be adequate e-readers for many people). I still think that a tablet cannot really compete with an e-reader for reading books, but we'll have to wait and see where the market is going...

Reports: Amazon set to launch a color E Ink e-reader in 2H 2012

ereader — Sat, 12 May 2012 17:39:35 +0000

Reports suggest that Amazon is going to launch a color E Ink e-reader in the second half of 2012. According to the reports, some parts and components are already shipping for Amazon supply chain. The new reader will have multi-touch capacitive touch panels (instead of the infra-red touch panel used in the current Kindle Touch).

Color E Ink prototype

Back in February it was reported that Amazon started to order 6" color (Triton) touch E Ink panels from E Ink, and that E Ink will ship over 3 million displays a month to Amazon.

The Wexler Flex One - the first e-reader to use LG's flexible E Ink panels?

ereader — Mon, 07 May 2012 09:45:01 +0000

Back in March LG Display announced that it is already producing XGA (1024x768) flexible plastic-based E Ink panels for a Chinese ODM. Now we hear that Wexler is that ODM, and the upcoming reader will be called the Flex One. And as was expected, the device itself isn't flexible or bendable: but however it is very durable, thin and light.

The Flex One features LG's 6" XGA monochrome panel, non-touch. The reader sports 8 Gb of memory, ePub and PDF support and a mini-USB port (no wireless it seems). Apparently the refresh rate is very high, and the battery is good for about two weeks of reading.

Target to stop selling Kindle e-readers

ereader — Thu, 03 May 2012 07:31:23 +0000

Target announced that they will stop offering Kindle e-readers starting this spring. They will continue to offer other e-readers, including B&N's Nook. There are speculation that Microsoft which now has an interest in the Nook business is behind this move.

B&N slashes the price of Nook e-readers for Mother's day

ereader — Wed, 02 May 2012 06:19:45 +0000

Barnes & Noble announced a new deal for Mother's Day: they dropped the price of the Simple Touch e-reader to $79 (down from $99) and the Nook Color's price is now $149 (down from $169). The prices will return to normal after May 13, so hurry up. B&N will also ship a free Nook gift bag with every purchase.

B&N spins-off Nook unit, Microsoft joins with a $300 million investment

ereader — Tue, 01 May 2012 02:59:19 +0000

Barnes & Noble span off its Nook business with a subsidiary (it will also take over all of its education business). Microsoft announced it will invest $300 million in the new company and will hold 17.6% of it. This is a strategic investment for Microsoft. B&N will develop a Nook application for Windows 8 in the first step, later on we'll probably see more integration plans (including a Nook running Windows, no doubt).

TDG: e-reader penetration grew 250% in just 12 months

ereader — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 11:21:08 +0000

TDG released a new market report (Profiling eReader Users -- A Consumer Snapshot)" in which they say that dedicated e-reader US penetration grew from 8% (of internet households) at year-end 2010 to 20% at year-end 2011. That's a 250% increase in just 12 months.

Many analysts are predicting a rapid decline of dedicated e-readers due to tablets and e-reader software on computers. TDG agrees that tablets are eliminating the need for a dedicated e-reader for many people - but e-readers are still proving attractive to a growing number of consumers. They are significantly less expensive and arguably more convenient to use.

Nook Simple Touch with GlowLight on video

ereader — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 11:49:31 +0000

Earlier today we reported about the new upcoming Nook Simple Touch with GlowLight, and now we present a short hands-on video showing the new device:

The Simple Touch with glowlight is now available for pre-order for $139 ($40 more than the original Simple Touch) and will be shipping in early May.

Nook simple touch with glowlight

ereader — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 03:21:05 +0000

The Nook Simple Touch with Glowlight is an E Ink reader with reading light. It's basically the same as the original Simple Touch - a 6" 800x600 Pearl E Ink display that supports touch, 2GB of internal memory, a microSD slot and a micro-USB connector. There are a few changes though: it's 5% lighter than the original at 197 grams and the screen is covered with anti-glare coating. B&N says that eye-strain will be pretty similar to that experienced with a backlighted LCD tablet. Battery life is about 1 month with light on (and 2 month with the light off).

The Simple Touch with glowlight is now available for pre-order for $139 ($40 more than the original Simple Touch) and will be shipping in early May.

Backlighted Kindle coming soon?

ereader — Sun, 08 Apr 2012 04:06:28 +0000

It turns out that last year Amazon bought Oy Modilis, a Finnish company that patented lighting technologies that are suitable for e-readers. There are reports that Amazon is indeed planning to release a Kindle with some sort of lighting, and Devin Coldewey from TechCrunch claims he's actually seen a prototype. The light is soft and blue-white in color.

Personally I don't think it's so important to light my e-reader. If I want to read, I prefer an external light source, just like when I read a book. Reading on an LCD (or OLED) display in the dark is very annoying, but maybe Amazon's new "soft" light will be better.

Is a plastic-based E Ink reader imminent?

ereader — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 07:09:58 +0000

LG Display announced that it started to produce flexible plastic-based E Ink panels for a chinese ODM, which will use them in an e-reader to be announced in Europe next month. The panels feature XGA (1024x768) resolution. The panel is bendable, but it's not clear whether the actual e-reader will have be bendable. The display will be unbreakable, and will also be lighter and thinner than glass based E Ink panels. We'll have to wait for next month to see the actual e-reader device...

LG Display says that 10% of e-reader displays have been damaged - because someone dropped them or set on them. The new display can withstand a fall from 1.5 meters and is unscratched by hammer hits...

Amazon to launch the Kindle Touch in Europe on April 27th

ereader — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 09:41:49 +0000

Amazon announced today that it will launch the Kindle Touch in Europe on April 27th. You'll be able to buy this e-reader in the UK, Germany, France, Spain and Italy. In the UK it will cost £109 for WiFi model and £169 for the 3G model (no ad-supported models available in Europe). You can pre-order your Kindle Touch now.

Ectaco's jetBook Color deployed to Brooklyn's Technical high school

ereader — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 09:35:12 +0000

Ectaco announced that their jetBook Color Educational eBook Reader gets deployed to Brooklyn Technical High School. This is NYC's largest high school. The book is preloaded with many academic tools (such as Oxford talking dictionaries and SAT prep courses; Math, Physics, Chemistry, Geography, and Biology references; graphing, accounting, and scientific calculators and multilingual talking translators).

We don't know how many units are being deployed, and whether this is a pilot or a full-scale deployment in the school.